Generally a much less stressful week than last week with lots of great progress but all is not perfect - see below.

 

Heating

Last week's drama getting the UFH pipes laid just in time for the screed pour seems like a distant memory but as there had not been time for Ken to fit the manifold and pressure test, he came on site on Sunday evening (roping in his Dad as a helper) to get that done. 

 

 

Thanks Ken - and Ken's dad!  A neat job completed...

 

... just in time for Paul and Shaun from Air2Heat who arrived on Monday to install and commission our Panasonic ASHP and cylinder - kit which also arrived on Monday.  It's almost like it was planned!  

 

 

We have opted for a 7kW Panasonic Aquarea L-series Bi-Bloc with a 300 litre Panasonic cylinder and 50L buffer tank. 

 

We're really impressed by the speed and neatness of the install: it's almost a shame the pipework has to be hidden behind the insulation.

 

 

 

The external unit looks great and seems incredibly quiet - even when heating up that 300L cylinder from scratch.

 

 

Although the heat pump is working we can't use it in anger at the moment as we have to have a slow temperature ramp up to prevent the screed from drying too rapidly.  The screed itself does seem to be drying out nicely with no issues.  None of the zone stats are fitted yet so the UFH is operating in open loop mode but in reality there is no demand anyway.  

 

I would thoroughly recommend Paul Thorney at Air2Heat as an MCS ASHP supplier and installer.  He has been super-helpful throughout our heating journey.  Initially he was just going to provide an MCS commissioning umbrella service but his price for supply of the kit was good and in the end we asked him to do the install as well - and we're very happy with the result.

 

Rendering

Although the weather has been 'iffy' at best John Wheeler from Caesar Spray-Rend managed to find a window to prime our base coat and then spray the Ecorend Thin Coat topcoat in 'Scotch Stone'.  Again, we're very pleased with the result.  Once the timber cladding goes on the other sections (later, later!) we think the two finishes will work really well together.

 

Before topcoat

 

And after:

 

 

 

 

 

 

John also put a sand and cement render round the block-work below DPC to tidy that up... Although Troy seems more interested in the stray soil-pipe bung than the render: 

 

Electric 1st fix

...has started!  Unfortunately 1st fix electrics is not particularly photogenic but here are the sparkies Nick and Darren pretending to be hard at work to prove it's underway.  

 

 

More on electrics to follow in the weeks ahead, I am sure.

 

Decision time 

So, good progress on a number of fronts but it's not all been plain-sailing.

 

I have had to pull the plug on the team who were supposed to fit out additional wall and ceiling insulation.  They were supposed to complete in two weeks back in early August but the work didn't progress as well as they'd hoped we agreed they'd need to come back for a week with a bigger crew to finish off. They were due back last week but had to postpone by a week.  Then today, I find they can't make tomorrow and there's a lack of clarity about when and if they'd be in next week.  

 

Unfortunately, we cannot afford to be chasing a slipping milestone because the ceiling insulation has dependencies: 1st fix electrics and then the plastering, both of which are on the critical path.  So I had to let them know that we weren't continuing with them.  They took it quite well to be fair; I suspect it may have been a relief.

 

We are now going to switch to Plan B...  just as soon as I have worked out a Plan B.

 

Seriously: always have a plan B.  

 

Actually we have a plan B and a plan C, either of which will protect our schedule - we just need to decide which is the more palatable because they both have some downsides: either through higher costs or by reducing our planned insulation levels (which may be a bit OTT anyway).   In summary, Plan B - get the plasterers to fit insulated plasterboard; Plan C skip the additional roof insulation and let the u-value for that element increase from 0.09 to 0.152.  The latter of course still satisfies building regs and has a surprisingly small impact on heating requirements according to the Build Hub heat loss spreadie.  

 

Conversations with our architect and SAP man next week to help decide.  Watch this space for further updates.

 

Overall though, we both feel the we have made the right decision, and usually in these situations the danger is 'going with the flow' when the flow is really drift.

 

And finally

For the eagle-eyed amongst you who spotted that some plasterboard has magically appeared in the plant room... Have the plasterers started already?  

 

No - they don't start until after 1st fix, of course, but the plant room presents a 1st fix v plasterboard conundrum - so who did we manage to rope in for some impromptu 'boarding out'?   Why, none other than Mrs P!  Seen here in action:

 

 

Great job Mrs P. - good to see you wearing the Benpointer team hoodie!

 

 

Dashboard:
Contractor days on site this week: 15 (I'm not counting Mrs P!)
Contractor days on site since build start: 264

 

Budget:  No change.

 

Plan: Still on track to move in by Easter 2026.

 

Issues and worries closed this week: 

• Worries about the ceiling insulation crew's ability to keep to the schedule. 
   

Current top issues and worries:

• Replanning the approach to ceiling insulation. Plan B or plan C?